Taking a look at negative numbers for Patriots offense through first half of 2013 season

Avoiding negative plays is always a point of emphasis for the New England offense — several players spoke about it as a main focus following Sunday’s win over the Dolphins. To this point in the season, the Patriots have run 562 offensive plays (according to NFL game books), and not counting end-of-half kneeldowns from quarterback Tom Brady, 44 of the plays have gone for negative yardage, a rate of 8 percent. (That includes the 23 sacks taken by Brady.) Here’s a breakdown from each one of the first eight games, as well as a per-game percentage: